Through the woods
by timeShenanigans
Summary: Naomi Brown died unlucky, unwanted, and alone. Now, she has the chance to be unlucky, semi-alone, and not really unwanted in a new world, with new people. Now that she's technically got amnesia, and head trauma, and was expected to fight and kill, nothing could go worse than her last life, right? (Reincarnation OC) Moving to AO3, check my profile
1. Chapter 1

Okay so I know I promised I'd update Fall Behind Me, but I'm still working on it. this is one of the fics I've been working on in the meantime, and it'll be a long one, so it's going to update a lot... less on schedule than the others. for now, take this! I've been debating on publishing for awhile but i might as well, so i don't get discouraged and chicken out, or try and rewrite the whole thing again.

* * *

Naomi Brown had to be the unluckiest person in the entire world.

She'd been unlucky in life - born to parents who weren't fond of children, part of the raging epidemic of those who should not, and did not _want_ to have them. And yet, she was still born, an error on her mother's part, as she so carefully said several times throughout her rather neglected childhood.

It wasn't that the two were bad people - rather the opposite, in fact. They were wonderful people who often volunteered to help anyone who needed it, talked for hours with friends who were feeling down, and often bought gifts for those who needed it. Every Christmas they spent the whole day helping serve meals down at the community center. During Thanksgiving, they did the same thing, and afterwards they went Black Friday shopping until late the next day, shopping for things they'd need for the year, and gifts for friends and for her.

Which meant that they left her all alone.

But, in the end there was no mistreatment, there was just no treatment at all. They left her alone far too much, and it only grew increasingly more the older she got, rather than stepping up as parents. Instead, they had fun with friends, went out on volunteer trips, and who knew where they were most of the time. They were just, never there.

They weren't bad people, just bad parents.

Most of Naomi's early memories constituted of eating at a table that hadn't been cleaned in who knew how long, and often having dinner comprised of foods she was allergic to. Mostly macaroni and cheese, and her mother had a bad habit of buying mango-peach fruit juice boxes, when she was not only lactose intolerant, but also allergic to mangoes.

There were quite a few nights where she woke up sicker than a dog, and had to wash her pillow because her parents were either gone, or wouldn't wake up.

So it came as no surprise that she learned to take care of herself from an early age, getting herself to and from school every day, learning where her parents kept the extra cash. Once she was old enough, she often found herself snatching cash from her parents (not like they noticed, they weren't rich but they certainly weren't poor) and going to buy her own clothes, or school supplies. She learned to forge her mother's signature early on (lot like they checked, in the end), and often didn't have to worry about parent conferences as she got damn near perfect grades.

She knew from an earlier age that she wanted to help kids.

She couldn't deal with the stressful nature of child protective services, but her interest in medicine helped narrow things down quite significantly. She decided to be a pediatrician, and as such, busted her ass to get as close to a perfect grade point average as possible, applied to multiple colleges, and applied for as many scholarships as she possibly could. It was stressful, and tough, and she had more bad days than good, as she was often in charge of the house, and had to fend for herself with the monthly allowance that her parents put into her bank account.

But, her hard work paid off.

She got a series of minor scholarships, as well as a major one, and applied to a college in-state, as her parents offered to let her stay at their house while she was in school. So she delicately balanced taking care of the house, medical school, and finding a job. It took four years of suffering and struggling, but she finally made it out of medical school, and from the recommendation of a friend of a friend, she found a clinic that she was able to go to for her three years of residency. The clinic was somewhat small, but regularly visited, and the people who went there were more family than patients, and Naomi found she fit easily into the dynamic of those who worked there after the initial awkwardness wore off.

Things seemed to finally be looking up for her.

And then she got sick.

Cancer ran in both sides of the family, so it was no surprise that when she started to notice a change in herself, and she got it checked out, she was diagnosed.

If her parents had been around, and not out on some trip that they hadn't bothered to fully explain (something about volunteer work?), she probably would have asked for them. Instead, she just leaned on the shoulders of her coworkers as much as she feasibly could. She did all of the treatments she needed, and when they didn't work, and it just kept coming back (she'd caught it too late), her coworkers visited her in the hospital.

One particularly kind coworker brought her things from her home, as embarrassing as the state of her childhood home was.

A blanket from home and her laptop made things more bearable as she got sicker, and made it easy for her to contact friends online. She was able to get social interaction, while not having to put too much physical effort into it. It was also a lot easier when she could watch whatever she wanted on her laptop, or read. One friend often recommended different anime to her, sent her fanfics, and was generally just overzealous, but she appreciated the enthusiasm.

She spent most of her time indulging in media, talking with friends here and there, and laying back, staring at the ceiling of her hospital room while confined to the immediate area around her bed.

And her last memory as the twenty five year old pediatrician Naomi Brown, was much like the rest of her life.

Unbearably lonely.

It was late at night as she lay there, looking up at the ceiling of her hospital room, listening to the slow beep of her heart monitor echo from beside her. She felt like crying, but couldn't seem to quite do so. Instead, she breathed in and out, in and out.

Until her eyes slid shut, and Naomi Brown, one of the unluckiest people in the world, was no more.

* * *

Little Mimi was four years old.

She had two loving parents who were career ninja, and two uncles - a merchant who sold fabrics, and a Special Jonin who loved to show her his cool fighting moves! They loved her very much, even if sometimes they couldn't be there for her because they were on missions, or like Uncle Kai, selling wares to other countries.

So when all four of them were gone, she was left in the care of Ami-san, the very nice civilian lady with really soft hair! She grew hers very long, and sometimes she let Mimi braid it for her, even though her dark hair looked uneven and messy because Mimi had trouble braiding. She was always very nice and gentle, and Mimi liked Ami-san a lot!

So on that day, when Ami-san had said they would go to the park, Mimi was really happy! Even if they weren't going to the park with most of the kids from her class, but the one with civilian kids, Mimi was still happy because it meant they would stop for dinner on the way home!

(Although, as much as Mimi liked Ami, and although the little girl herself didn't know it, there was absolutely no reason a fifteen year old civilian girl should ever be babysitting the child of two powerful, career shinobi. So if her parents had thought better, they would have realized that their rebellious and wild daughter, who thought she was hot shit, probably wasn't the safest in the hands of someone who couldn't tell her no when she wanted to do wildly dangerous stunts. But unfortunately, they didn't.)

The park that Ami-san took her to was also the one where the Genin boy that Ami liked took his siblings. A funny coincidence, but it was still nice because she spotted one of her classmates playing with some older kids.

When they didn't let her play with them (she was too small, they insisted - and yet, they were letting _him_ play with them! It was all because of who his dad was, she was sure of it), she moved on. Her classmate (she refused to even name him she was so mad) didn't vouch for her, so she went to play with the civilian kids her own age, but they didn't want her to, because she was so advanced. She was too small to play with the big kids, and her parents weren't well known enough to get leverage, she couldn't play with the kids her own age, because they were civilians. Plus they couldn't even talk right.

So naturally, Mimi did what any kid would do.

She decided to climb the tree called The Arm Breaker.

It was one of the biggest trees in the village - and had a well known reputation for people falling out of it and breaking their arms. Nobody had ever made it to the top before. Until Mimi came along. Or, well, until she climbed the tree, which she was definitely going to. It wasn't hard to slip from the sight of Ami-san, she wasn't paying attention as she talked to that Genin boy anyway, since she knew Ami would definitely stop her if she saw.

Once she was in the clear, she first tried _walking_ up the tree - which didn't work, of course. She knew she needed to use chakra, but she wasn't quite where she wanted to be with it yet, and her parents and her uncle hadn't been home too much recently, and when they were training wasn't really on the list of things they wanted to do. So, in the end, she climbed the old fashioned way.

It was tricky, at first - the branches on the bottom were very thick and dense, which was easy for holding her weight, but tough for her tiny hands to grab onto well. But, she still made it up in the end, and managed to make it a couple more feet up before she looked to see if anyone was watching.

None of the big kids were, but - oh, her classmate was looking at her! She waved with a big grin, excitedly pointing to the tree. He just rolled his eyes, and pulled his lower eyelid down while (she assumed) sticking his tongue out. It was hard to tell with his mask, but she just sort of assumed that's what he was doing. In response, she stuck her own tongue out, and began climbing again.

As she neared the middle, it was the perfect balance of not being too wide so she could grab on, and being just sturdy enough to hold her. She grinned as she got there, looked out to see if he was watching and saw him pointedly looking in the opposite direction. What a jerk! She'd show him! Have the absolute gall to not vouch for her even though she almost beat him in taijutsu last week? Okay so she really didn't, but she beat a few other kids! And he didn't want to vouch for her?

She'd show him!

So she got reckless. Kept climbing, faster and more determined than before, without putting any thought into what she was doing. She slipped as she neared a branch closer to the top, and fell. Hit a branch directly below, and although she should have taken this as a sign to quit, it was quite the opposite. Instead of realizing she could fall for real, she took it as a sign to be more careful, and climbed up higher, until she reached branches she had to jump to reach.

One moment, she was jumping to the next branch over, sure it would hold her weight despite not having looked very closely.

The next, she had hit the branch, grasped her hands around it, and felt it crack beneath her weight.

She didn't have time to scream as she went plummeting down, down, down through the branches. She hit several on the way down, knocking the air out of her lungs and causing a gross crack to hit her ribs. She watched, wide eyed as the branches zipped by her, before her head hit the ground with a sickening crack.

And Naomi woke up.

It was the only time that the two would ever come to exist together, inhabiting the same body and mind, a soul split in perfect harmony.

They lay there, staring up, unblinking at the swaying blur of branches, the dilapidated light falling gently onto their face. Had circumstances been any different, they were sure that the scene would make a pretty picture. Instead, all the two felt was confusion, disorientation, and a dull numbness that came with the shock of their trauma. There was something warm pooling around their head and neck, seeping into the back of their shirt as a blur of white and black and pale skin moved in front of them.

Movement, sound, and blurs of colors and vague shapes were all around, something touching them, things moving too fast.

Their eyelids dragging downwards, more sound.

Then, blissful nothingness, as Mimi was no more.

And yet, Akiyama Midoriko's life had only just begun.

* * *

When she woke up, it was to the dull, drab hospital ceiling she was accustomed to.

And yet... there was something different. Something she couldn't quite place, but desperately wanted to. She couldn't place it, no matter how she tried. The scene out the window was the same, a tree blocking her view of the outside world. The door was in the same place, and she assumed the visitor chairs across from her bed were still there. But just to be sure, she decided to sit up and check all on her own.

Sitting up was a struggle, but she was used to that, and took her time, let herself take breaks, until she managed to get into a sitting position. Once she was, she saw the chairs in the exact- no, wait, that wasn't right.

The chairs were no longer by her feet.

Instead, they were placed to the side of the room, across from the window, and were different than the shitty plastic ones she knew. These were basic wood chairs, not upholstered, but still nicer than what she was used to. The sheet was of better quality for some reason, although it was still shitty and thin, and her blanket was nowhere in sight. All she had a view of was her thinly veiled legs.

But - wait.

Why were her legs so small?

She ran her hands over them desperately, bandaged and tiny as they were, and she felt herself begin to hyperventilate. There was no telltale beeping from the heart monitor - there was no monitor at all, in fact. She looked at her bandaged hands, gently stubbed with blood, and she took deep, calming breaths.

Or, well, tried to at least.

And then the door opened, and a frazzled nurse began to check over her. She had some sort of weird glow around her hands, and a weird headband with - wait, was she a cosplayer? Who was she even cosplaying from _Naruto_? Sure she wasn't that far in the series, but she'd seen a few characters online, and she certainly wasn't cosplaying one that she knew!

She wanted to say something, but as the weird glow around the woman's hands soothed over her, she felt... weird. There was no smell, and she wasn't dizzy, just, weird. No drugs, in that case, other than the IV drip in her arm, which seemed to just be fluids for the moment. That was no ordinary LED light either, considering anywhere the glow touched her, felt strange, and then smoothed out.

Once the examination was done, the nurse gave her a small smile, and then ducked out of the door quickly, before coming back in with a nice looking doctor. He pulled a chair up, and sat next to her as she tried to piece everything together in her mind.

"Hello Mimi-chan, I'm glad to see you awake!" He laughed, smiling nicely at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhm, who- who's Mimi?" She asked, confused beyond belief.

She'd never been called that before - her parents weren't big on pet names, and she was a little creeped out that some random doctor was giving her pet names. It wasn't unheard of with kids, but, she was a grown woman!

...In a child's body.

"Oh dear, well, that's not good." He hummed, before checking over her bandages. "Do you know your name, dear?"

Well, considering the reaction she was getting, it was probably best to play dumb.

"No, I uhm, I don't uh, I don't know where I am, either." She said nervously, shaking her head as her eyes darted around. "Who-who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Yamada, and you are in the Konohagakure general hospital." He said slowly, gently placing his hand on hers. "Your name is Akiyama Midoriko, you are four years old, and you had a very nasty fall."

She blinked once.

Twice.

Three times.

"What?"

Not only was this guy suggesting that she was named Akiyama Midoriko, but that she was also four years old and in a hospital from a fictional place in an anime she had barely watched.

She called bullshit.

But... there was no denying she _was_ in the body of a child, and in that case, the rest didn't seem entirely implausible. If she could be a child, she could probably have a different name, and being in a fictional world wasn't too much of a jump either. Well, this was all probably a dream anyway, so she'd just go along and enjoy it. It had been a long time since she'd had a clear dream like this, especially one so outlandish. She supposed she could just enjoy being a kid who wasn't dying again, and admire the scenario that her mind had come up with for her to enjoy.

"Midoriko?" Doctor... what was his name? Yamada? Yeah, Yamada, asked, smiling gently and patiently at her. "Still there?"

"Hm?" She hummed, looking back up, torn from her train of thought. "What did-did you uhm, what did you say?"

"I asked what the last thing you remembered was." He said with a small laugh, gently patting her knee. "What do you remember?"

She bit her lip, furrowing her brows as she attempted to remember anything.

Truthfully, all she really remembered was laying down in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling as she felt miserable and held a pity party for herself. She remembered the slow beeping of the heart monitor and then the way she was falling asleep, and the final sound of something giving a long, low beep and- oh.

Oh no.

She shook her head, shrugging as the looked away and desperately tried not to have a panic attack.

"I don't- I dunno." She replied quietly, eyes shut tight as she dug through memories. "I- I don't, don't um, I don't remem-remember."

He nodded, a gentle smile on his face, as though he were trying to placate her.

"It's alright, we'll work through this, alright Midoriko?"

"O-Okay."

"Let's start with simple things, then. Can you answer some questions for me Midoriko?"

"Just-just the import-important ones." She stuttered, wincing at the way the words awkwardly fell from her lips.

God that was annoying, why was she stuttering so much?

"Alright!" Doctor Yamada laughed, pulling a pen from his pocket before flipping a few pieces of paper over. "Alright Midoriko, can you tell me your name?"

"Ak-Ak- Aki- ugh!" She groaned, running her hands over her face, before taking a deep breath and trying again. "Midori- Midoriko. My name is Midorik-ko. You told, you told me that."

"Okay, can you tell me where we are?"

"Uh-uhm, K-Kuh-Ko- it's uhm," she took a deep breath, and tried again. "The lea-leaf vill-uh, leaf village. The Hospital, we're um, in the hospital."

"Very good! But, I did tell you that already. It's good that you remembered that though! It shows you're doing a little better if you can remember information like that." He tapped his chin with his pen, before scribbling down some more information. "What about your parents?"

She bit her lip, and looked at the door. The truth was she really _didn't_ know anything. Well, that'd have to do.

"I have parents?" She asked, looking at the doctor, who blinked owlishly for a moment before schooling his features into the picture perfect mimic of someone who was calm, patient, and gentle.

"Yes, Midoriko, you do have parents." He said slowly, as though weighing his options.

"Where are they?" She asked, a mix of dread and excitement pooling in her stomach - she'd love for this dream to show her a picture perfect image of her parents, and prove the lump of fear in her gut wrong. "Can I see them?"

"Well..." Doctor Yamada winced, and bit his lip, tapping his pen on his chin as he thought for a moment. "Midoriko, your parents are... on a mission, right now."

Well, that meant absolutely nothing to her.

When she didn't respond, just tilted her head and scrunched up her face a bit, staring at him, the doctor uncomfortably scratched the back of his neck. He seemed to be thinking for awhile, opening and closing his mouth a few times awkwardly, before smiling at her. He seemed to be even more uncomfortable than she was, and she had just woke up in a child's body. Go figure.

"Well Midoriko, your parents are ninja. That means they go on missions for the village, to earn money, and protect everyone," he said gently. "Your parents were on a mission, so they left your uncles in charge of you."

"Well, where are my uncles then?"

"Well... one of your uncles is a merchant, and the other is also a ninja. Your uncle was taking his wares to an unsafe area, so your uncle was escorting him."

"Well then who was watching me?" She cut in, astounded that someone would just leave her all alone when she was clearly still a child. "Like, I'm a kid! Who was taking care of me?"

"Your uncles left you in the care of a civilian woman named Ami, she was with you when you fell."

"A babysitter?" She asked, her brows furrowing as she tried to make sense of everything. "Where is she then?"

"Well, she went back to her home, we sent her home yesterday." The doctor explained, gently patting her knee sympathetically. "The poor dear was very upset."

But what about her?

What about Midoriko?

She was only a child, with no family around her, and she had just had a traumatic accident. What was she supposed to do? Deal with this all on her own?

Well, it wasn't like she couldn't try her best - she was actually twenty five, after all.

"Okay." She replied numbly after a long pause. "Can we just do whatever you need to so I can sleep?"

The doctor smiled gently and nodded.

"Of course we can, let me ask you a few more questions..."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! this chapter gave me hell, so I'm sorry it took so long! I couldn't find a right way to start it, until recently.

Anyway, I'd like to give a special thanks to the fic **Laterality** by **Peccolia** for being so amazing, and inspiring me to do my own fic set in this era! Please check out their fic, it's very very good, and was a heavy source of inspiration and motivation during the planning and writing of this fic, as well as **Catch Your Breath** by **Lang Noi**. I would heavily recommend each fic if you haven't read them already! I also owe this chapter in specific to **The Legend of Three Leaves** by **Peccolia** and **This Transient, Floating World** by **the-word-builder**. Both fics have sorely helped me aspire to improve my writing, and have helped be a source of motivation for getting up and actually updating. Again, visit any of the fics I mentioned if you're looking for something to read, because they're all fantastic!

Thank you again for being patient while waiting for this chapter, and the kind reviews, I appreciate it!

* * *

The clock ticks on the hour, and Midoriko still finds herself waiting.

She's more than used to it, and for once she thanks those long hours lying awake in hospital beds for preparing her for this. The long hours of waiting, alone and unable to move about on her own had gifted her with the coping skills she needed to endure the long bouts of boredom, and the mental resolve to ignore the aching pains in her injured body.

And thankfully, she had some games she could play to keep herself entertained.

So far, the nurse had walked by her hospital room a total of six times in the past twenty five minutes, and gone into the rooms surrounding hers. The patient in the room across the hall had gotten into a coughing fit three times, and Doctor Yamada had come to ask her how she was feeling exactly one hour and twenty six minutes ago, like he did every two hours on the hour. Her ribs had creaked when she'd breathed in too long exactly six times in the past hour, and the muscles in her hands had spasmed uncontrollably no less than eighteen times in the same span of time. Her head no longer ached, but when she'd gone to speak she'd gone to speak, she had, without fail, stuttered and stumbled over her words every single time.

The clocked ticked once more, and Midoriko set her head back against the pillow, eyes sliding shut as she breathed in and out slowly, but shallowly. The gears in her mind made a slow, low clanking sound as she ran over other things to think about. Other things to count, and keep her mind sharp and keep her from screaming from loneliness.

She recounted conversations she'd had, in the past days.

Exactly forty-two with the nurses, and sixty-five with Doctor Yamada. One hundred and seven conversations, all with medical officials.

Out of the forty-two conversations with the nurses, she had been asked how she was feeling sixty-seven times, but it had never been missed in a conversation. The nurses had adjusted the bag on the hook that was fluids and mild painkillers exactly forty-two times, even when it hadn't needed to be swapped out, and there had been twenty-five times when they had asked her if she was bored, but not a single one where they had remembered to get her something to entertain herself with.

Out of the sixty-five conversations with Doctor Yamada, she had been asked questions about her immediate situation no less than sixty-five times. He had tapped his pen against his clipboard at least once in twenty-seven of them, and had ran a hand through his hair on seventeen different occasions.

And sixty-five times, without fail, he had promised that her so-called parents would come back for her.

Sixty-five times he explained, very patiently, that her family were all on missions.

Sixty-five times, and it failed to sway Midoriko's very solid opinion.

The clock ticked on the hour, and the door opened.

Perhaps she was speaking preemptively, but make that sixty-six times.

* * *

Rapidly approaching the end of her stay in the hospital, Midoriko found herself growing impatient.

Uncertain.

Anxious.

It gnawed angrily at her insides, pulling and tugging in rough motions that made her ribcage ache.

If her parents didn't come for her, where would she go back to when she was discharged?

A village that constantly prioritized _the mission_ likely wouldn't just let her stay there, she was wasting valuable resources just by being in the hospital for as long as she was. They'd probably throw her at the first adult to offer to care for her, if they were being truthful in saying that she didn't have any other family.

Or perhaps they'd just discharge her and send her off on her own. They certainly didn't seem to care about giving children weapons and letting them run around on rooftops and go fight in wars, would they really care if she went home to an empty house?

Because, y'know, god forbid she _distract_ her parents while on a mission - how scandalous!

"Hello?"

Midoriko snapped her head up at the sound, looking to the open door as a head of silver-white hair poked through.

He wasn't a nurse, or a doctor, so who the fuck was this guy?

Was he...?

Ah, no, couldn't be, his body language was taught, but purposefully relaxed as though he were embarrassed. No familiarity sparked in his eyes when he looked at her, either.

"Wh- who are- who are you?" Midoriko stuttered, internally cringing at herself.

"Ah, I'm Hatake Sakumo!" He said with a friendly smile, opening the door a little more and walking inside. "I don't expect you'll remember me, however."

"I d-don't remember any- I don't-" She clenched her jaw, and slowly took a deep breath. "I don't remember anyone, uh, H-Hatak-Hata-Hatake-san. I've uh, I've got, I've got amnesia, I g-guess."

Fuck k sounds, and fuck her dumbass head injury. Honestly it was a miracle she could speak in any capacity that others could understand her at this rate, it was -

Wait, Hatake? Like-

Midoriko blinked as a child walked in behind Sakumo, holding the adult's hand and hiding partially behind him.

Messy white-silver hair, check.

Mask, check.

Moody, stand-offish attitude? Check.

Same exact design as the multitude of pictures her friend had spammed her with?

Check.

Aw _shit_.

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, Akiyama-chan." Sakumo says, his head dipping in some sort of semi bow. "I don't expect you remember my son, then?"

Midoriko bit her lip.

Should she say anything?

"Uh, no, not really." She settled on finally, before adding on a hasty, "but he looks kind of familiar."

Sakumo smiled, and pushed Kakashi forward, the boy's eyes going wide for a moment. Was that horror, that she could see in them?

Why - oh, he had flowers.

"These are for you." Kakashi says in a hushed tone, and Midoriko almost swears the tips of his ears are pink. "Because you fell."

He stumbles a bit, pushed forward by his father, before moving close enough to set (but it's more of a toss) the flowers on her lap. When she goes to pick them up (her hands ache from the movement) he jumps back as though burned, and Midoriko shoots him a confused look, before looking down to the bouquet in her hands.

It's mostly daisies (god, she hates daises), but there were a few other flowers she couldn't name, and she liked those well enough.

"Th-thank- Thanks." She says with a shrug, setting them back down onto her lap.

She'll have to get a nurse to set them on the bedside table - if she asks Kakashi, he might explode.

What ensues is a lengthy, and heavy silence, with neither side sure how to break it.

"So, Akiyama-chan, how are you feeling?"

That was the one hundred and twenty-fifth time she'd been asked that since coming here.

She didn't feel the need to share that.

"Fine." She said quickly, before realizing she should probably be a little nicer. "D-doing, doing better. C-can, I can, can move my hands now."

"Ah, that's good."

"Mm."

More silence.

"Why- why are you, you here?" Midoriko asks after another moment, looking up at Sakumo. "B-both, both of you, I- I mean."

Sakumo blinked once.

Twice.

Three times.

"Huh?"

Midoriko sighed, and looked out the window for a moment, before looking back.

"Why are you, why are you um, uh, visit-visiting me." She explained, blinking slowly.

"Oh!" Sakumo almost looks like he's going to laugh, before he holds Kakashi by the shoulders and moves the poor kid in front of him. "Kakashi told me about you getting hurt, and we decided that you should get a visitor, to brighten your day."

"...what?"

"We're in the same class." Kakashi offers, and Midoriko nods.

"Ah."

Another long silence.

"Thank- um, Th-Thank you."

"You're welcome." Sakumo says with a soft smile, and Midoriko has to look away. "I thought you might like the company, I don't know how many visitors you've gotten."

"None."

There's a pause, and Sakumo blinks.

"None?"

"I have-haven't um, I haven- I," Midoriko sighs again. "You're the fir-first. First um, first visitors."

Something akin to realization flashes across Sakumo's features, and then a little bit of shame, maybe pity?

"Ah, well, I'm sure Kakashi would enjoy coming by to keep you company after school, right Kakashi?"

Midoriko wanted to cringe, but kept her face neutral. Poor kid, being offered up on a spit by his own flesh and blood.

She wanted to refuse the offer, she really did, but... she was pretty lonely.

And desperate.

She'd take what she could get.

"Sure."

"What?"

Midoriko watches as horror flashes over Kakashi's features, easily recognized even with that mask.

"I um, that s-sounds, um, ni-nice. C-com-compan- I'd like if he visited."

"Great!" Sakumo said with a smile, refusing to look at his son. "Kakashi can bring some of the work you missed from class, and help go over it with you."

Midoriko smiles, for the first time in awhile, and sincerely looks forward to it.

* * *

The next day, while Midoriko is listening to the clock tick incessantly across the room, she hears the door open.

The clock hasn't chimed on the hour, nor has it been an hour since the last nurse's visit.

She opens her eyes.

"You c-ca- came."

"Mn."

Midoriko sits up, a little surprised.

She hadn't actually expected him to show up, even if he'd sort of promised he would.

Huh.

As Midoriko goes to say something, she's interrupted by a heavy stack of papers and books smacking down onto her thighs.

"The work you missed." Kakashi answers simply, before she can even ask the question. "There's a lot."

"I... s- see."

She shifts through the papers for a moment, assessing the damage.

A lot of math work - simple, they weren't even working on division yet, apparently, and the majority of it was just simple addition and subtraction with a smattering of multiplication. The literature work was piss easy, things she'd learned years ago in the college class she'd taken on Japanese. Her friend had called her a nerd then, but fuck if it wasn't a good choice now.

All of the work is extremely easy - they haven't gotten to anything she didn't know yet, although she was sure they would.

After all, they had to talk about Chakra sometime, right?

"D- do you have, um, a uh," Midoriko mimed writing and Kakashi nodded, handing her a pencil. "Thank- Thanks."

Midoriko began with the math, quickly answering the problems written on the page. It didn't take long, and as soon as she was done with that, she moved onto the literature portion. Easy, hardly anything to glance at, just simple spelling tasks and writing prompts. She worked in a blur, her mind craving any sort of stimulation, even if it was elementary grade.

The clock ticked on the hour again, and a nurse came in to adjust the IV bag.

Midoriko paid her no mind.

Kakashi mumbled something to her, and she paid him no mind.

"Hey." He said, ripping the pencil from her hand.

"Huh?"

"I said, I have to go home. I'll turn in what you got done."

"Gi-give, um, give me five more um, five more minutes." Midoriko mumbles, taking the pencil back and working more.

He huffs angrily, but Midoriko notices he waits.

After exactly four minutes and twenty five seconds, Midoriko is done.

"Here."

Kakashi takes the papers, and makes it a point to read over them.

His eyes scan the paper, and Midoriko rolls her eyes, leaning back in the bed.

"You forgot your name."

"What?"

"You have to write your name, idiot." He says in a deadpan voice, pointing to the top of the paper where there was an empty space. "Right here. It's required."

Midoriko went quiet for a long second, before looking away.

She could feel the tips of her ears going pink, and Midoriko cursed her situation more in that moment than she ever had before.

Kakashi remains silent, but Midoriko can feel his eyes on the back of her head, boring holes into it as though he could pick her mind.

"I don't know how." She says after a long, silent moment. "I- I don't, um, I don't remember how to uh, how to write my name."

"...are you stupid?"

"Shut up!" Midoriko hissed, whipping around to look at him, willing the angry and ashamed tears pricking at her eyes to go the fuck away. "I- I didn't, um, I didn't know my own uh, my name, when I woke, wo- woke um, up."

"Oh."

Kakashi says nothing, just gets up and walks away.

Midoriko looks down at her hands, resting in her lap, no longer wrapped in bandages. She should have known this would happen, why had she foolishly believed that she could cling to someone she didn't even know when -

A clipboard thumped into her lap.

She looked up at Kakashi, who looked bored, and shrugged.

"Your name is at the top."

Midoriko smiled, and gave Kakashi a thumbs up.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad.


	3. Chapter 3: Interlude (Bear)

Hey everyone! The update is a little shorter, and a little later than I'd originally been planning on, but I've been pretty busy! I've got a lot of stuff to do as of late, so I haven't had much time to write. When I did, I kept bouncing back and forth between ideas, and I couldn't settle on what to do for the next chapter, but I finally managed to, so take this chapter while I have downtime today before I head out to a birthday lunch...

So have this next chapter, and Interlude that follows the ANBU Member Bear.

As always, thank you for reading, and for all of your kind reviews!

* * *

The Iwa-nin manages to get a punch in on Bear, a solid, shattering blow that, if she hadn't been guarding against it, would have shattered at least half of the bones in her face.

Thankfully, the only crunching sound she hears is that of her mask shattering on impact, and then that of Lizard's sword impaling him through the chest.

He falls, and Bear gives his corpse a good kick, throwing the shards of her broken mask at his face in petty retribution.

Fucker.

"Guo... gimme a head count." She growls, turning to Lizard and Crow with a grimace, wiping the blood from her exposed cheek.

"Ten Iwa-nin down, eleven, counting the one Eagle caught." Crow signs, before gesturing to Eagle, who was holding the body of a very limp, and very dead Iwa kunoichi. "Our count was twelve, we're missing one."

Bear nodded, and made the mental note of getting Eagle checked out when they got back to the village - the way he was tossing that dead body was just wrong.

It was just. So wrong.

Bear cringed as he let it hit the ground, before turning towards Lizard.

They were crouched low to the ground, hands pressed tight to the soil, while their head remained locked ahead of them, as though the Lizard-masked ANBU was going to be taking off running at any minute. Which could very well be the case, if Lizard felt so inclined to just take off running rather than directly relay the info to Bear.

"Taichō, permission to lead?" Lizard asked, Crow signing for them. "Ten kilometers ahead of us, and moving fast."

"Granted." Bear assured Lizard, following close at their heels. "Hurry."

* * *

With their final target caught, Bear set her team for a hard, fast march out of Iwa territory.

Once the four ANBU were out of Earth, and had slowly and carefully crossed Stone, they stopped some ways into Suna territory to rest. Once they had all rested for a half a day, they would slowly made their trek along the border, so that they could cross from River Country into Fire, then make a long patrol around the border before booking it to Konoha. It would be a week, maybe two at their current pace before they were home. Longer, if the Hokage added any more targets to their list before they could, but as it stood it wouldn't be long before she was back in Konoha with her family.

Once bear was home, she'd make Hiroki cook for her - she could already taste the Tanuki Soba that was her brother's specialty, and the stir fry with pea pods that he always made the day after.

Ah... but if her idiot brother wasn't home, she supposed that she could scrounge up some fruit and ration bars from the marketplace, and get a pre-made bento for lunch. For dinner she'd just go to an Akimichi restaurant, she never got a complaint when they went out to dinner, especially if it was that one that served the really good dango. Maybe they'd go out for ramen one night, and then go to a tea shop and spend some time relaxing and eating sweets.

"Taichō, figure heading inbound fast." Lizard signed, chakra subtly flaring to alert Bear that they wanted to talk. "Orders?"

"Lizard, hit the ground, stay low." Bear ordered, quickly standing to her feet, despite the ache in her muscles. "Crow, Eagle, hit the rocks. On my mark only."

The three nodded as they made themselves scarce, and Bear slunk back towards the mouth of the cave that they had previously been staying in.

Sure enough, within moments Bear found herself face to face (mask to mask?) with ANBU member Hare. The pair clashed swords before words could be exchanged, a brief scuffle that Bear easily won, before Hare was quick to flare her chakra in the pattern that had last been used when Bear was in the village. With a grin, Bear flared her chakra in the appropriate response, before pulling back and giving her team the all clear.

"Taichō." Hare greeted warmly, pulling her mask up just enough that Bear could see her smile. "Good to see you."

Bear grunted with a nod, and ruffled the kid's hair (hah) with a crooked grin that the other girl couldn't see.

"Message from the boss?" Bear signed curiously as Lizard dug herself up from the ground two paces away. "New targets?"

"Mission scroll, freshly issued this morning." Hare said, handing it over for Bear to read. "And a... scroll about a personal matter. For you."

Bear squinted suspiciously, but looked at the mission scroll first with a nod.

The list of targets and the orders that went along with them stared back at her as she formulated a mission plan in her head. There were six targets total, and they were all back along the arc of land that Bear had just pushed her team through. They'd have to circle around through Fire Country again, cut through to the border along Hot Water and Rice Paddies, and then cut up into the Land of Iron. They'd have to restock along the way, abandon their Konoha-standard blades in lieu of whatever they could scrounge up in Iron. Maybe they could cut straight across to Iron, skirting a safe distance from the Grass border?

It was the quicker route, but Bear would rather spend an extra month away from home if it meant her men got home in one piece and their village wasn't suspicious. Ah, they would just continue along their planned route, and skirt along the Sand Border before cutting through River as quickly as possible, then wind their way around Fire. Bear would have plenty of time to decide once that was done.

"Guo... Lizard goes first, then Eagle, then Crow. Crow, burn the papers once you've finished." Bear ordered, handing the papers directly into Lizard's hands. "I want you three on patrol, Lizard underground, Eagle up high, and Crow in the rocks."

The three nodded, before whisking away.

"The personal matter?"

Hare paused in adjusting her mask, before slowly fixing it as though to stall for time.

"It's not good news." She finally admitted, handing over the scroll. "I'm to give your answer directly to the Hokage once you've decided."

Bear grimaced, and hoped it wasn't more Clan Head bullshit, before opening the scroll.

Her eyes flicked across the text, taking in the information at as quick a pace as possible, before slowly stopping halfway through. The dawning realization of what the documents were finally hit her, and it took everything in her carefully placed willpower not to break the scroll in half as Honoka bled through into Bear.

"When was this issued."

"The report was finalized this morning, but I was told that the incident occurred one week and three days ago." Hare signed, bowing her head so she didn't have to look at Bear. "I have no information other than that, I'm afraid I'm just the messenger and I'm not privy to the information on this scroll."

Bear nodded, and forced herself to breathe slowly, calmly, normally. Put Honoka back away, and pick Bear back up. Fit everything into their neat little boxes, and get on with it.

Once Bear was once again collected, she began to read the document once more.

Although she was not privy to the exact situation that had occurred, it was clear that the injuries were traumatic, although her daughter was already on the quick mend by all accounts. She had been in the care of a civilian woman while all members of her family were out of the village (she was really going to lay into whoever had hired a civilian woman - no, a child, a civilian _child_ \- to watch her daughter). The civilian girl had decided to resign due to the nature of the event (Bear didn't blame her, she was a civilian after all. They weren't known for being able to handle matters like these) and as such, her daughter was now without care. And Bear knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was going to be expected to let her daughter return home on her own, and stay at the house and go to school and take care of herself.

Because that was what Academy students, no matter how old, were expected to do.

Fuck that.

"You've my express permission to relay my answer to the Hokage, and the Hokage alone." Bear said, setting the scroll in her hand ablaze. "I want a Jonin on duty for the mission, one who is... _suited_ for the task, and has worked with a case like this before, or is currently working on a case like it. I give express permission to dock my pay for the funds to pay whoever will be taking the mission, or dip into my personal funds."

"Yes, Taichō." Hare nodded obediently, checking the position of her mask one last time. "I'll relay your instructions."

"Good." Bear said, looking away from Hare and taking stock of her team. "Now get a move on, I have people to kill."


	4. Chapter 4

Midoriko silently cursed her lack of initiative while furiously walking... well she wasn't sure where she was going just yet, but that wasn't the point!

She'd known the day that she would be released from the hospital was coming, and coming fast. She'd known that she'd be left on her own, and kicked out. But whether it was fear, denial, or perhaps just stupidity that kept her from asking literally anyone in the hospital more about her past life - well, she just wasn't too sure.

But what she was sure about, was that she really, really should have asked more questions.

Fuck, she hadn't even wanted to think about the life that... that... well, the bottom line was that she just should have figured anything out.

Because there was a certain level of accountability expected of Academy students, and a certain lack of care on the part of the village. Because when you were training to become a ninja, no matter how old you were, you were supposed to learn to conduct yourself like one. So if you were four years old with amnesia it didn't matter! You're an Academy student, and so even if you don't know where your supposed house, or even where really _anything_ in the village was, tough luck! And, fuck, the nurse had to have been criminally stupid or unaware, because she'd handed Midoriko a yellow backpack with ink, dirt, and what was possibly blood, streaked all over it, and asked her to make sure her belongings were inside. And being the idiot that she was, Midoriko had actually given the contents a quick pity glance. Like she'd even know what the contents looked like, she said that it was all good, and the nurse had just handed her release forms.

Which was how she came to be dressed in clothes she didn't recognize, nor care for, with a backpack full of things that were supposed to mean something to her, wandering the streets of Konohagakure.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, and she debated on stopping at one of the food stands that were spread around, before remembering that she wasn't sure if she had any money. And even if she did, she was sure that they weren't going to use American Dollars, so she wouldn't even understand the exchange rate, or how much something was, so she'd just be slapping coins on a counter and hoping she got fair price for whatever she bought. Yeah, that wasn't ideal. But again, neither was wandering around a village she didn't know but was a citizen of at six in the morning while hoping for some sort of miracle, so, y'know.

She didn't exactly have a plan, so Midoriko decided she'd wander until she found somewhere to sit down.

She wasn't exactly sure whether she wanted to look lost or not, so she supposed she'd just leave that interpretation up to anyone passing by, and would roll with things as they came up.

* * *

After almost an hour of walking, Midoriko found herself at a park.

At least, she supposed it was a park - there were no toys like swings or a jungle gym, but she shouldn't expect one, considering the technological differences of her world and this one. Er, the differences of her old earth, and this one? Hm, she wasn't exactly sure what to categorize that as. Maybe she -

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Midoriko's head whipped around to look behind her, wide eyes locking onto the tall boy standing there.

He was taller than her by a good foot at least, with dark blue hair that, had she not known better, would have thought was dyed. His headband hung loosely around his neck, and _god_ was his outfit a crime against fashion.

She couldn't help the disgusted expression her face contorted into as she spotted the black long-sleeved top underneath a mustard yellow form-fitting crop top. And the spandex under his appalling eggplant colored shorts were the same blue as his hair, and as though they weren't bad enough on their own, he'd had to pick those open toed sandals that all the ninja wore. The outfit itself was bad enough, but the color scheme just made it _atrocious_.

"Oooohhh Hide this girl is judgin' ya style!" Came the faux-scandalized giggle from behind him. "Yer right though, he looks like a sad bachelor's dinner, huh?"

Midoriko couldn't help but agree with the blonde, spiky-haired girl with pigtails that had suddenly appeared, and either her expression or the grunt she couldn't help but let out got to the other girl, because she let out a roar of laughter. She covered her mouth with one sharply manicured hand, and doubled over, leaning on her friend while losing it.

"God shut up Chigusa!" The boy said, pushing his friend off of him with the brightest blush Midoriko had ever seen. "It's a perfectly normal color scheme!"

"Oh it _so_ is not!" The girl (Chigusa?) laughed, pushing him back a bit. "My outfit is way better."

"You look like a festival threw up confectioneries on you!"

"Well at least I don't look like someone threw an eggplant with spicy mustard on a plate and sprinkled blueberries all over it, _Hide._ "

"Fine, let's settle this!" The boy said, puffing out his cheeks. "Kid, who's outfit is better?"

The two turned to Midoriko expectantly, Chigusa with one eyebrow raised, and the boy (Hide?) with his cheeks puffed out and arms crossed.

Unlike Hide, Chigusa was dressed in a modest, pale blue kimono-style top that reminded Midoriko of Easter eggs and baby blankets. It was died with a gentle purple sash (called an obi, right?) which complimented her light hair. Her headband was even matching, the cloth the same blue hue as her clothing, hung around her neck. And even though she was wearing the sandals every ninja fawned over, her dark leggings matched her outfit nicely, and she looked stylish with her sharply manicured nails, painted purple. She looked put together, and like she could cut someone open with a single nail, which was pretty hot.

"I-it's um, it's h-her." Midoriko said, pointing to Chigusa. "Sh-she um, she looks uh, looks better."

"Hah!" Chigusa laughed, setting her hands on her hips with a large grin. "Ya hear that?"

"I hear you, asshole..." Hide grumbled, blushing and looking away. "God, you're so embarrassing!"

"Oh I'm embarrassin'? Wha' about the time ya-"

"OKAY! I GET IT! CAN WE JUST TRAIN?"

"Well tha's wha' we came here ta do so-" Chigusa stopped mid sentence, before looking down at Midoriko. "Ah, right!"

"Oh so _now_ you comment on something other than my clothing."

"Shut _up_ Hide, goddamn." Chigusa rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at Hide before turning back around. "We have this trainin' ground booked all day, so whatcha doin' here kiddo? Don'cha have the Academy soon?"

Ah shit.

Shit, okay, come up with something fast Midoriko. Something clever, something that would let her wander around aimlessly for a little longer without giving away she was fresh out of the hospital. Wait, why was she worried about telling others that? Was it some sort of ingrained response from before, that her mind hadn't quite flushed down the drain yet? And- oh shit they were still looking at her, quick, think of something dumbass you don't have much time so think, think thin-

"I ah, um, got u-um, lost."

Fuck.

Hide and Chigusa exchanged the same look, before smiling at her.

"Ah, well we'll help you then!"

"Yeah! We know how ta get there from here!"

DOUBLE FUCK.

"Ah, you d-don't um, don't have to uhm, to d-do that." Midoriko says quickly, waving her hands. "I, ah, I um, d-don't want to um, to b-bother you."

"Oh don't worry about it, we're ninja, it's what we do." Hide says with a smile, patting Midoriko's hair. "Besides, I've got siblings, I'd want someone to help them if they got lost too."

Oh man you really blew that one, huh Midoriko?

"O-Ok-okay." Midoriko sighs, accepting defeat as the two stand on each side of her. Probably to keep her from running. "Than-th-thank, um, th-thank y-you."

"No problem kiddo!" Chigusa says with a grin, ruffling Midoriko's hair as she starts walking. "C'mon, ya don't wanna be late, do ya?"

Resigned to her fate, Midoriko nodded, before hanging her head and following the two genin to her inevitable doom.

* * *

Midoriko sighed, and hung her head as she stood in one of the hallways of the Academy, hands tight around the straps of her yellow backpack.

Her plan to wait until Chigusa and Hide to walk off before taking off from the Academy had been a bust - they'd probably known what she was going to do before she did. So when she'd gone to wave them goodbye, they'd just stood there, waiting, until she'd shuffled into the school, head hung in embarrassment and defeat. Damn ninja kids, seeing through her ruse.

Now she was stuck, contemplating what to do, because there was clearly time left before school, and she had absolutely no clue what to do and-

"Midoriko-chan!" A cheerful voice crowed from behind her, before ramming into her and pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm glad you've returned, victorious over your injuries!"

The person set her down, and spun her around to look at them.

He was taller than her, had black hair, a big smile, and a jumpsuit.

Why did those sound familiar?

"I-I'm s- sor- um, so-sorry?" Midoriko apologized, taking a step away. "I ah, u-uhm, I ah, I don't- d-don't uhm, don't kn-know you."

"Hm? Midoriko-chan, it's me, Maito Gai!" Gai said with a confused expression, tilting his head. "Your friend!"

Oh.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I um, sorry." Midoriko apologized, ducking her head and stepping back. "I ah, I um, I h-have am-amne-uhm, I have- I have amnesia."

Gai looked confused, frowning.

"I- I um, I hit my h-head." Midoriko explained, tightening her hands on the straps of her backpack. "B-But uh-uhm, if you uhm, if you still w-want I ah, um, we uh, we c-c-can st- still be friends?"

Really, she could use all the help she could get, considering she - wait, was he crying?

"M-Midoriko-chan!" Gai sobbed, big fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he hugged her again. "Even having forgotten everything, you are still an amazing friend!"

"Ah, th-there, uhm, there?" Midoriko said awkwardly, gently patting Gai's back until he set her down. "Uh-uhm, Gai?"

"Yes, Midoriko-chan?"

"Ah, I don't uhm, I d-don't know wh-where um," Midoriko took a breath. "Um, d-do you kn-know uhm, what c-class um, class I'm in?"

Gai blinked once, twice, and then grinned widely, before grabbing her by the arm.

"Midoriko-chan, you're in luck!" Gai said, eyes lighting up. "We're classmates!"

* * *

End A/N: Hey everyone! This update took me a lil while, and I had trouble with it, so it came out shorter and at the last minute before I'd have missed my monthly update. But! I'm proud of myself for getting it done so I hope you guys enjoy! And again, thank you all for your kind words, and for reading! I really really appreciate it!


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